In general, catalysts such as three-way catalysts (TWC) placed in a vehicle exhaust system operate efficiently at temperatures greater than about 350.degree. C. The exhaust gas heat from the vehicle's engine is the principal means of warming a TWC in a conventional exhaust system. During the initial start up period of the engine, after starting the engine it takes about one minute for the heated exhaust gas passing through the catalyst system to sufficiently warm the TWC to this temperature. During this start up period, the catalyst is less than efficient and exhaust gases with untreated components often end up exhausted to the atmosphere. It would be desirable to have a catalyst which is efficient at lower temperatures or a way to heat the catalyst in order to reduce the time necessary to reach the catalyst's efficient operating temperature. Prior efforts to incorporate heating elements in catalyst designs have been less than successful because conventional heating elements comprise using metallic substrates, which are power intensive if the whole catalyst is heated. Moreover, many of these heating elements do not have sustained operability in the catalyst system because of their limited durability. Such deficiencies of prior catalyst heating elements are overcome by the electrically heatable catalyst device of this invention.